Current weather

Dupuy: The 'let them eat cake' Congress

I asked an Occupier in D.C. named Rob Wohl why the movement he’s a part of is resonating with people — why, as more than 3,000 Americans have been arrested in demonstrations and even journalists and vets have endured tear gas and rubber bullets, the movement is still growing.

His answer? “Because we are analytically correct.”

What does that mean? Apparently, they believe they have the facts on their side. History certainly is. And as author Michael Lewis said when asked about the Occupy Wall Street movement, they also have justice on their side.

Newly released census data shows record-high poverty in this country. It’s up to 16 percent. That’s 49.1 million Americans, and that’s more than five New York Cities. We have the worst wealth inequality in the industrialized world, on par with some Third World countries. We have the highest health care costs in the world.

And a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute notes, “U.S. productivity grew by 62.5 percent from 1989 to 2010, far more than real hourly wages for both private-sector and state/local government workers, which grew 12 percent in the same period.” Basically, Americans are working much (much) harder for much (much) less. Pair that with the fact U.S. businesses are making record profits and that’s why Americans have taken to the pothole-laden streets to protest.

It’s not just about the bank bailout. It’s not just about Wall Street. It’s about the goal of the wealthy to milk their fellow citizens until they’re completely dry. And while regular Americans are condescended to about their proverbial bootstraps, the U.S. government has helped the wealthy at every turn. So it’s no surprise they’ve won.

And now that people are brittle and dusty — there are encampments all over the country.

The question isn’t, “Why are there so many people sleeping in parks?” The question is, “Why aren’t there more?

In the wake of this massive protest, right in the middle of the tenure of the lowest rated U.S. House of Representatives in our nation’s history — a group of men and women whose approval rating of 9 percent is hovering just above the margin of error — what do they do? They pass another symbolic (think: busy work) nonbinding resolution to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as the national motto.

I could have made that up as satire and I’d get a letter saying I was being too harsh.

Time spent on a bill (of which there are four versions) reaffirming a phrase already on every denomination of money and any number of public buildings is about as contemptuous as this body of seat-warmers can get.

It’s “let them eat cake” with a little of King George III’s “the colonies will submit” thrown in for flavor.

Yes, the do-less-than-nothing House has passed a whopping 54 bills originating in their chamber in their nearly full year in office. Their counterparts in previous Congresses usually have authored and passed three times that number. And if you subtract passing go-nowhere bills to defund National Public Radio, Planned Parenthood and other specters like Obama czars and take into account their days off (next year they’re only set to work 109 days out of the entire year) — they’ve put in a lot of effort to be ineffective.

Which is what you’d expect from self-hating government workers like the House leadership. They’re illustrating how lazy, stupid and useless government can be — by example.

To sum up: The American people are paying more for less, working more for less and asking more ... and Congress is doing — wait for it — less.

The Occupiers are right. They are “analytically correct” in their assessment. Their government is failing them. As another Occupier put it, maybe it’s “time to replace Congress with people.”

• Tina Dupuy is an award-winning writer and managing editor of Crooks and Liars, a leftist political blog. Send email to tinadupuy@yahoo.com.

OnlineAthens.com aims to foster constructive, respectful civic conversation. With your help, we will provide a friendly, safe, easy to use place on the Web for everyone in the area to share not only opinions but also information of community interest. Racist, harassing, abusive and libelous comments will not be tolerated.